Transcriptome Analysis of Long-lived Drosophila melanogaster E ( z ) Mutants Sheds Light on the Molecular Mechanisms of Longevity

The E ( z ) histone methyltransferase heterozygous mutation in Drosophila is known to increase lifespan and stress resistance. However, the longevity mechanisms of E ( z ) mutants have not been revealed. Using genome-wide transcriptome analysis, we demonstrated that lifespan extension, increase of resistance to hyperthermia, oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress, and fecundity enhancement in E ( z ) heterozygous mutants are accompanied by changes in the expression level of 239 genes (p < 0.05). Our results demonstrated sex-specific effects of E ( z ) mutation on gene expression, which, however, did not lead to differences in lifespan extension in both sexes. We observed that a mutation in an E ( z ) gene leads to perturbations in gene expression, most of which participates in metabolism, such as Carbohydrate metabolism, Lipid metabolism, Drug metabolism, Nucleotide metabolism. Age-dependent changes in the expression of genes involved in pathways related to immune response, cell cycle, and ribosome biogenesis were found.